


kiki and the raven

by madnessiseverything



Series: exandrian fables and fairytales [2]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Drabble, Post-Canon, also a little experiment for me so let's see if it works, fable esque wee story, just some post campaign one feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-06
Updated: 2018-09-06
Packaged: 2019-07-07 20:23:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15915600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madnessiseverything/pseuds/madnessiseverything
Summary: here lives a druid in a village, high up and far away. in this tale, we will call her kiki. it is short for her first name, a beautiful name really, but she likes this version of it just as much- why? we will get to that, do not worry. she is old now, with many centuries on her shoulders. her hair, once bright copper but now dulled, blows in the wind. she is the leader of her people, has been for so long. she stands on a cliff and watches the sun go down with a soft smile.or the one where a raven comes to visit, every day, and people will tell the tale.





	kiki and the raven

**Author's Note:**

> so this came to me after i happened upon this [beautiful art](https://rachebones.tumblr.com/post/172559060527/kiki-and-the-raven-sounds-like-an-exandrian-fairy). the caption caused me to instantly jump into google docs and write this little thing :D crossposted on my cr tumblr. i hope you like it!

there lives a druid in a village, high up and far away. in this tale, we will call her kiki. it is short for her first name, a beautiful name really, but she likes this version of it just as much- why? we will get to that, do not worry. she is old now, with many centuries on her shoulders. her hair, once bright copper but now dulled, blows in the wind. she is the leader of her people, has been for so long. she stands on a cliff and watches the sun go down with a soft smile. she does that a lot these recent years; you can always catch her on the cliff at sundown. vigilant, watching the day end and night come in with colors so wonderful and bright.

kiki has a friend by her side, watching orange bleed into pink and purple with her. her friend is a big raven with feathers shimmering beautifully in the disappearing light. he is bigger than most ravens, and sits comfortably on her shoulder. kiki is strong; she barely feels his weight. he caws and she smiles as they watch the sun wave goodbye for the day.

the raven does not have a name, not really. but he always visits her, every day. he watches over her people with her, or keeps her company as she wanders through the fields surrounding her village. sometimes he comes in the morning, sometimes at night. but he always comes. he does not miss a day.

there is something in his eyes, something more than what the other ravens in the village have. kiki does not like thinking about it, even if the thoughts push into her mind; unprompted and persistent. his eyes watch her with a different gaze than a bird would, more emotion in them than the birds she knows. she has ideas as to why he watches her like that. it feels familiar, like the dull pain of fading scars; a distant memory.

he watches her like a young man from many centuries ago used to watch her, with curiosity and admiration. he tilts his head like any bird, but also like a young man with dark hair and love that poured out of him in waves. he pecks at her hair, pulls strings into knots, like a young man with fast, gentle fingers and a soul so bright not even kiki’s magic light could match it. a young man kiki loved with all her heart, who cut her hair and held her hand through hell - some say both literal and metaphorical. his name has not been spoken for many, many years now. but he flew like the raven does, and he looked at her with the same admiration and simple curiosity. he called her kiki with a soft voice and reverence, and loved her until he no longer could.

kiki does not talk to the raven. she is afraid of what she would learn. instead, she lets him rest on her shoulder, her arm, her legs. she brushes gentle hands over his feathers and smoothes out what the winds mess up. she lets him watch on as she rules her people, up in that village far away.

the raven does not have a name, not really. but kiki sometimes catches herself with a name stuck in her throat when she watches the raven fly in patterns all too similar to a young man she once loved.

 

(even more centuries pass until kiki steps into a tree. the raven never truly leaves that tree. he flies off from time to time; but, for all the time that is granted, he always returns.)

 

_-_

 

_legends speak of a tree high up in a place called zephra, where the lady of fate has an unusual shrine with a raven feather embedded in its trunk. legends say that a druid lives within this tree. ravens circle it, build homes in its branches. a raven bigger than them all often rests on a big root that breaks the ground at the foot of the tree. the legends say the raven and the druid were lovers long ago. many tell the story of the tree and the raven, a tale of love and immortal life. nobody knows if it really is true as it is carried down through generations. but every century a flock of colorful birds nest amidst the branches, and the raven joins them. the tree blooms brighter those times than it would in any other spring._

**Author's Note:**

> i am always all about people dropping by my [cr tumblr](https://nottanothercritter.tumblr.com/) to talk to me about these nerds.


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